Duke Ellington said "By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn't want your daughter to associate with", but over the next 10 days, why not lighten up and enjoy the London Jazz Festival?
Beginning Friday the 16th of November and running for 10 days, London's concert halls, clubs and even pavements will be awash with talent as the city welcomes the international elite of jazz music. For a fortnight London eclipses New Orleans as a Mecca for promising musicians.
This year’s theme pays tribute to the icons of jazz, with shows and events themed around cover versions and jazz standards performed by artists from around the globe, plus cutting edge improvisation and high energy originals.
If you're funds are running low before pay day, head to the various free concerts around town, especially along South Bank throughout the festival, where you can dance around with like-minded jazz enthusiasts.
Spoonfed’s Pick of the Festival:
We All Love Ella
For generations of listeners, Ella Fitzgerald remains ‘The First Lady of Song.’ An unmatched vocal virtuoso with an effortlessly elegant sense of swing, she’s loved by millions as the definitive interpreter of the great American popular songbook.
Now London celebrates the 90th birthday of this most revered of jazz singers, with a fascinating line-up of vocalists from both sides of the Atlantic – all fiercely individual in their own right , all making their own response to the inspiration of a legend.
Accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra and a handpicked selection of the city’s finest jazz players, We All Love Ella is the quintessential Festival opening night, an evening of sultry sophistication and swing.
Date: Friday16 November
Venue: Royal Festival Hall
Time: 7.30 pm til late
Tickets: £10-37
Partisans
As a high energy, high impact rock jazz band, Partisan's music is distinctive and addictive. Influenced as much by Jimi Hendrix as by Miles Davis, each member of the group brings a different influence and it’s this combination on stage that creates an exciting performance. The vanguard of live jazz rock.
Date: Friday 16 November
Venue: The Vortex Jazz Club
Time: 8.45 pm til late
Tickets: £10
Joyce
Brazilian born singer, composer and guitarist, Joyce will amaze audiences with a powerful mix of jazz and Brazilian samba. This exclusive show will sample some outstanding tunes from her new album 'Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas'. In collaboration with her husband, drummer Tutty Moreno, expect hip-swaying beats, samba-scats and masterful percussion.
Date: Saturday 17 November
Venue: The Jazz Café
Time: 7pm til late
Tickets: £17.50
Barry Adamson and Matana Roberts
Renowned for his trademark dark film scores for Lost Highway, Natural Born Killers and The Beach, Adamson's style has intrigued and inspired his fellow Jazz musicians for over three decades.
In this collector's item of a live show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Adamson will perform a selection of his favourite soundtracks as well as previewing his highly anticipated new album. A master of atmosphere.
Date: Tuesday 20 November
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall
Time: 7.30pm til late
Tickets: £15 - 20
Ernest Ranglin and The Mafia and Fluxy Band
Considered the godfather of ska and Jamaican jazz, Ernest Ranglin has been a driving creative force in Caribbean music from the 1950s when he was a pioneer of the slower Lovers style, up to the present day where his dub and soul remixes are still in huge demand.
Ranglin will be best known to UK audiences as the creator, together with Chris Blackwell and singer Millie Small, of the first reggae number one. In 1964 'My Boy Lollipop', topped the charts for several weeks and launched Island records.
Date: Wednesday 21 November
Venue: The Jazz Café
Time: 8.30pm til late
Tickets: £20
Robert Glasper
Coming from a strong gospel background yet influenced highly by hip hop, RnB and alternative rock, Texan-born pianist Glasper exhibits a sound that's undeniably Glasper.
Since graduating from the New School University in Manhattan, Glasper has worked with a variety of artists, including trumpeter Roy Hargrove, vocalist Carly Simon and rappers Q Tip & Mos Def. This is one for the serious nu jazz boffin
Date: Sunday 25 November
Venue: The Jazz Café
Time: 8.30pm til late
Tickets: £18.50
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